GAA doing a deal with SkySports

[orangeman]

The quicker Sky come in the better. The commentary and analysis on Setanta here is brutal.

[Dag Dog]

I see that Rachel Wyse has been tipped to head up Sky's GAA coverage. A lot easier on the eye than Marty Morrissey.

[orangeman]

I see that Rachel Wyse has been tipped to head up Sky's GAA coverage. A lot easier on the eye than Marty Morrissey.

Start a campaign to get both of them presenting. They'd be good for each other.

[blast05]

I'm sure a Sky subsrciption would be cheaper than the €54 it cost to watch 1 bloody game i was interested in this evening on Setanta...... 2 month subsrciption minimum plus 15 connection fee.
At least with Sky its Sky Sports 1 & 2 equals €15 per month (30 for 1, 2, 3 & 4) and you can inform them of your cancellation (1 months notice) in a call immediately after your subscription call

[seafoid]

I will support it tentatively. I don't have sky but local pub does. For me this is only worth doing if it promotes the games audiences and participation internationally. I haven't seen any detail yet.

What I really hope this will do is bring an armatuer game to the masses where people see a game largely played by ordinary people playing for the lands of their birth, for pride of place.

It can stand as a vanguard against mercenary professionalism. If it can show people that this level of sport can compete with and provide as much entertainment, if not more as professional games. That the modern professional sport model isn't the only way and if anything it might give meaning back to sports in a way that has been largely lost.

Somewhat idealistic and romantic view but it is what could be achieved in all this. That said, it could go completely the opposite way.

That's an interesting angle Juice. I suppose it depends on how Sky want to position it. If it's mostly an Irish focus , it'll have more of an Irish feel but there's also potential to be another sport on the telly- a bit different and there are (mostly) men all over the world who'll watch sport of any nature at any time of the day. 

[lenny]

I will support it tentatively. I don't have sky but local pub does. For me this is only worth doing if it promotes the games audiences and participation internationally. I haven't seen any detail yet.

What I really hope this will do is bring an armatuer game to the masses where people see a game largely played by ordinary people playing for the lands of their birth, for pride of place.

It can stand as a vanguard against mercenary professionalism. If it can show people that this level of sport can compete with and provide as much entertainment, if not more as professional games. That the modern professional sport model isn't the only way and if anything it might give meaning back to sports in a way that has been largely lost.

Somewhat idealistic and romantic view but it is what could be achieved in all this. That said, it could go completely the opposite way.

That's an interesting angle Juice. I suppose it depends on how Sky want to position it. If it's mostly an Irish focus , it'll have more of an Irish feel but there's also potential to be another sport on the telly- a bit different and there are (mostly) men all over the world who'll watch sport of any nature at any time of the day.

We are told that rte will also be showing the games that sky have so they will still be free to view. My worry is that sky will block out the signal to freeview rte customers just like they do with the champions league on Wednesday nights. This would mean a significant portion of the north wouldn't get to see big games without subscribing.

[tommysmith]

Sky getting in on the act and illegal transfers to big clubs being let happen the GAA is starting to let things slip in my opinion.

[seafoid]

I couldn't disagree more. We are competing with soccer, rugby and 101 other sports and we need to be open to all options. RTE do a God awful job promoting the sports IMO and I'd have taken matches off them for Sky not TV3. Not sure why you are so dismissive of the international aspect of this, we are as much a part of the GAA as those at home.

I dunno Zulu. I think Marty and Spillane could be replaced by better people but it is very much audience dependent.
I watch sports on various channels and it is all pretty much of a muchness IMO - French TV is not much better than RTE, Swiss TV is worse, Austrian is around the same.

The 3 panelists in suits discussing the match opposite the straight presenter is a dead horse that has been flogged to death all over European TV . Sky tart it up with flashy graphics etc but you don't end up getting much more information than you get on RTE. If you want something a bit more highbrow you have to go online to places like this..... 

That is one of the problems with telly nowadays- they have to aim at a very diverse audience of all ages and insights and it's not going to please everyone. 

[easytiger95]

We are told that rte will also be showing the games that sky have so they will still be free to view. My worry is that sky will block out the signal to freeview rte customers just like they do with the champions league on Wednesday nights. This would mean a significant portion of the north wouldn't get to see big games without subscribing.

Lenny i can't see how RTE would be allowed to show Sky matches.  From what I have heard, Sky have 14 matches exclusively to themselves, and then also have the right to simulcast with RTE the semifinals and finals - so apart from those they'll never be on air at the same time. Why would Sky pay money for non-exclusive matches? They won;t have to block anything as RTE won't be allowed put those games on Saorview - it was the same with the TV3 contract last time.

I'm wondering though where BBC will fit in to the new equation?

[magpie seanie]

Sky getting in on the act and illegal transfers to big clubs being let happen the GAA is starting to let things slip in my opinion.

Things have been slipping for a while. Slipping from the old style values some of us think are important.

I've come to realise that we are on an unavoidable path to a form of professional game. Cultivation of new markets has to be part of this for sustainability reasons. Getting involved with SKY TV was more of a "when" not "if" question. How many teams (franchises) will there be? Depends on how well this goes I'd reckon.

Some people think I'm crackers saying this but I reckon it's a nailed on certainty to happen. I'm a little saddened by it but a clean break between club and "county" might not be the worst thing if it's managed correctly.

[Hardy]

Sky getting in on the act and illegal transfers to big clubs being let happen the GAA is starting to let things slip in my opinion.

Things have been slipping for a while. Slipping from the old style values some of us think are important.

I've come to realise that we are on an unavoidable path to a form of professional game. Cultivation of new markets has to be part of this for sustainability reasons. Getting involved with SKY TV was more of a "when" not "if" question. How many teams (franchises) will there be? Depends on how well this goes I'd reckon.

Some people think I'm crackers saying this but I reckon it's a nailed on certainty to happen. I'm a little saddened by it but a clean break between club and "county" might not be the worst thing if it's managed correctly.

+1

[easytiger95]

Seanie, while I think it might be valid to question the long term strategy Croke Park may have, I don't think Sky particularly have one, bar the fact that as a territory we are becoming more important to them.

They care about showing something Sky customers in Ireland want to see - whether it is amateur or professional means nothing to them except, as the juice mentioned a couple of pages ago, amateurism as romantic narrative to draw in new viewers in the Uk. Given the Guardian's unprecedented editorial on the hurling final, they may be picking up on a new desire in the UK viewing public for sport untainted by premier league excess.

The first changes towards "professionalism" will be Sky demanding team sheets a guaranteed hour before throw in, making sure games start on time, making sure TV facilities at grounds are improved etc. In other words the coverage will get better - I saw them do it with regard to the Heineken Cup.

With regard to what the GAA are looking to do long term, I just hope they do have a long term strategy - if they are doing it fpr for short-sighted reasons like clearing debt etc, then we could find ourselves in the quagmire you describe.

But if they honestly see a way to guarantee the amateur ethos, whilst maintaining themselves as viable commercial proposition then I'd love to hear it, and having heard it, support them along the way.

I just think the founders of the GAA in 1884 would have been as astounded/angry/confused with the GAA of 1984 as much as of the GAA of 2014. The only constant is change.

[Syferus]

And thank God for that.

You hear the same lame excuses against change by conservatives or liberals in America - "Is this what the founders would do?"

If they were good founders they would understand the unstoppability of changing times and the need to adapt but really why would we give mind to old ghosts?

This is the GAA of 2014, not 1984 and certainly not 1884.

[Rossfan]

Sky getting in on the act and illegal transfers to big clubs being let happen the GAA is starting to let things slip in my opinion.

Things have been slipping for a while. Slipping from the old style values some of us think are important.

I've come to realise that we are on an unavoidable path to a form of professional game. Cultivation of new markets has to be part of this for sustainability reasons. Getting involved with SKY TV was more of a "when" not "if" question. How many teams (franchises) will there be? Depends on how well this goes I'd reckon.

Some people think I'm crackers saying this but I reckon it's a nailed on certainty to happen. I'm a little saddened by it but a clean break between club and "county" might not be the worst thing if it's managed correctly.

+1

So SKY get to show FOURTEEN games of the 50,000 or 100,000 (or whatever the number is) Gaelic games played in Ireland in a year and " it's the end of the GAA as we know it" .
Jasus lads would ye pair ever go to a doctor and get something to lighten ye up a biteen.

Seriously though - is this in fact happening or is it a tale to make RTE/TV3/BBC/UTV put up a few more €?

[magpie seanie]

Sky getting in on the act and illegal transfers to big clubs being let happen the GAA is starting to let things slip in my opinion.

Things have been slipping for a while. Slipping from the old style values some of us think are important.

I've come to realise that we are on an unavoidable path to a form of professional game. Cultivation of new markets has to be part of this for sustainability reasons. Getting involved with SKY TV was more of a "when" not "if" question. How many teams (franchises) will there be? Depends on how well this goes I'd reckon.

Some people think I'm crackers saying this but I reckon it's a nailed on certainty to happen. I'm a little saddened by it but a clean break between club and "county" might not be the worst thing if it's managed correctly.

+1

So SKY get to show FOURTEEN games of the 50,000 or 100,000 (or whatever the number is) Gaelic games played in Ireland in a year and " it's the end of the GAA as we know it" .
Jasus lads would ye pair ever go to a doctor and get something to lighten ye up a biteen.

Seriously though - is this in fact happening or is it a tale to make RTE/TV3/BBC/UTV put up a few more €?

It's you that needs to see someone by the looks of things. Making up a quote that clearly doesn't reflect what I said at all - what kind of an illness is that?